40. Asufetida: i.e. the gum of a tree; it is hot and dry in the third degree; the more foul it is the greater is its value and the nobler it is; it has the dissolving and maturing virtues; it serves well against illness of the chest that comes from cold matter. Platearius says that asafoetida serves well with syrup of violets against asthma, dyspnoea, quartana, hardness of the spleen, arthritis, paralysis, epilepsy, coldness of the brain in general, and every other cold illness.